CARMELITES HAVE two hours of recreation each day. Sister Marianna So (center left) enjoys agame of Scrabble with other sisters.

These saints also knew that the
desire for God comes wrapped in
human limitations. Teresa, the great
mystic, was sometimes so distracted
during prayer that she’d shake her
hourglass to try to make the time
go faster. Eminently practical, she
wisely counseled, “Pray as you can,
not as you can’t.” Thérèse admitted
to routinely falling asleep during
prayer time for most of her nine
years as a nun. These flesh-and-blood people offer great hope to all
who are committed to finding and
serving God!

Prayer is not aimed at making the pray-er feel good; it’s about
loving God through the litmus test
of charity: “This is the reason for
prayer,” saint Teresa emphasized:
“the birth always of good works.”